Dammit Chris..
Listen Chris, you desperately need to start listening to what the people, the players, the guys who pay your sorry arse actual american dollars to play your tourny have to say. You REALLY need to listen to their advice, all of their advice, even Inui's as he has obviously been around and his knowledge (however much it may be) shouldn't go wasted.
Lylat and Pokemon Stadium should not be in the May 10th tournament. As other have said the stages cause for idiotic get-back mishaps, and NO ONE wants to be dropped from a tournament because of that.
Counterpicks: I'm mixed on these as is. What is the point of a counterpick besides to give a LOSER an unfair advantage to get back into the game? Why not just use a neutral stage and not have to worry about all of that other nonsense? To me it makes little sense, and I don't see how skill (which tournaments are about) comes into play here. Hey, if it did, then you'd let us pick all of these stages right off the bat, no? (and please don't go into that speech about how a real "skilled" player would adapt to the stages changes, because that isn't what i'm getting at)
Now for something I have been wanting to say, and to stress, and hopefully shed some light on for you, my dear Chris. Any stage that can affect play, via an outside source, not controlled by the players themselves should not be a stage for a tournament. Sure, giant lasers, or pokemon who heave energy-laden boomerangs are cool, and for the most part easy to avoid or shield even, it is the "exploitable" nature of them that twists my nads into a sickening jumble. The fact that while you're shielding or near one, your opponent can opportunistically grab you, and toss you into said laserbeam, or while you're running house on them, use the distraction lasers and outside sources cause, to get away just can't be used as a logical choice for your tournament. These outside sources can give players who know how to take advantage of them, a big advantage, whether it's a lead, or coming back vs their opponent.
If you want your tournament to have any credibility and to continue being successful then listen to the players, and please don't be influenced by certain friends.
Sure a lot of the listed stages are wonderful stages, and are tons of fun to play on...BUT! they are not tournament material, so enjoy them on your own time, when other people's money isn't hanging in the balance.
I think that's all i have to say for now. Chris I have known you for entirely too long, so I hope that somehow affects your decision. It is NOT just me saying these things, but alot of people including some of your other friends and Sandra. So please think about your decision long and hard, make some changes, enjoy the profit that will be made, aswell as the players enjoying themselves more because of YOUR decisions.
I'll post more if anything comes up.
~Dane
